musings of a gluten free runner

Posts Tagged ‘Favorite Products’

I really never used to wear sunscreen.  I told everyone that I drank enough carrot juice to protect my skin!  And then one day something clicked… I think it was turning 27 and realizing that I was nearing the down-slide to 30 and middle-adulthood.  It was like a hazard light went off in my brain: I AM AGING.   Obviously this seems overly dramatic, but I have a mother who has always been obsessed with skincare and it was just a matter of time until I joined in the compulsion.

For me it’s not just about finding the MOST effective products, but also finding the LEAST toxic ones.  Many active ingredients (like glycolic & salicylic acids) have been found to be potentially hazardous, but they give great results.  Just like any effective medication, there could be some side effects… it’s just a matter of how much you are willing to compromise.

One things that kill me are parabens.  These are simply chemical preservatives added to products to make them last longer on the store shelves.  They have been linked to cancer, neurotoxicity, mutations, and they are an endocrine disruptor (ie. they mess with your thyroid & hormones).  So why are cosmetic companies still adding these harmful preservatives to everything from makeup to shampoo to lotions?  We know they’re bad and many “natural” companies have abandoned them… there’s really no excuse.

And onto the hottly debated topic of Sunscreen.  Studies have linked certain UV filters to the transsexualization of male fish, hormone disrupting activity and low birth weights in infant girls.  One of these culprit chemicals is oxybenzone, which is common in many sunscreens.  To lower the toxicity of sunscreens look for physical and not chemical blockers (ie. zinc oxide) in their non-nano form.  This means that the particles are large enough to sit on the surface of the skin.  The downside to this is the dreaded pasty-ghost-white film… but many products are getting better.  A way around this is to use a tinted moisturizer with spf on your face.

I really like Juice Beauty’s tinted moisturizer (SPF 30).  It is the least harmful one that I’ve tried.  My mom swears by Skinceuticals Physical Defense SPF 30.

The cosmetics database from the Environmental Working Group, a DC-based nonprofit, has 1,000’s of products rated on their safety levels.  It’s a wonderful resource to lookup your favorite products and see their toxicity level.  I used to buy Aveeno’s Positively Radiant facial sunscreen until I looked it up a couple of years ago.  Today we are so bombarded with environmental pollutants and toxins from every angle (food, water, air, homes, etc.) that it is no wonder that an alarmingly high number of us have some kind of hormone, auto-immune, endrocrine (thyroid) or adrenal problem!  One of the easiest things we can control is what we put onto my body.

Here’s the 2009 Guide to Sunscreens.  Now, I’m off to enjoy the nice weather!

Also check out: Campaign for Safe Cosmetics

It’s Monday and I have a headache.  OK, maybe it’s not really a headache… maybe it’s just that I have an endorphine hangover from the excitement and stress of last week’s events and I need a vacation.

Well, after going downstairs for a hit of Americano (bad!) and snack, I realized that I really take the Lärabar for granted.

Lärabars are always there when you need them.  They are my food in a pinch.  These bars are vegan and have no gluten, no soy, no gmo’s,  and are only sweetened with fruit. Except for the newer Peanut Butter Cookie flavor, they are completely raw. (I don’t eat peanuts for other reasons though).  All the flavors even have fewer than 6 ingredients.  How many other foods can say that?

They also make a great bar to take on the road for a recovery food.  Every ingredient is a food in a recognizable state to your body!  That means less waist to build up and process and the more nutrients the body can absorb from the food.  Reading the ingredients for most “energy bars” is a frightening and (hopefully) sobering moment.  I wish people would stop to realize that if they can’t pronounce something, they probably shouldn’t be eating it.

My Favorites: Cherry Pie (cherries have been proven to have anti-inflammatory properties, so great after exercise!), Pistachio, Cinnamon Roll and Jocolat Chocolate Hazelnut.

One upside about the company being bought out by General Mills is that you can find them everywhere from cafeterias to gas stations.  And as anyone with food allergies or restrictions can relate to:  they mean not having to go hungry.  So, thank you Lärabars.  I owe you more than one.

I can’t contain my excitement for this new coconut milk! It totally took me by surprise. We were in Ashland for the Easter holiday weekend (UP is a Catholic school, so they get a four-day weekend) and I started jumping up and down when I saw this in the Co-op. By the way, the Ashland food co-op is like my home away from home. I practically live there when we’re visiting. Luckily Ian is a sport and let’s me make a daily (sometimes twice daily) trip. Why is it so exciting? They have mate on tap, three kinds of raw-granola in their bulk section, a juice bar!!!, a huge assortment of kombuchas, amazing fresh fruit and gorgeous young coconuts & dates… my mouth is watering… I’m going to stop now.

When we got back to Portland I was elated to find that my very own Whole Foods in the Pearl is carrying both the orginial and the unsweetened varieties. I picked up a carton of the unsweetened version last night and made some hot rice porridge for desert. It was so creamy I wanted to cry.

Want to order vegan & gluten-free cookies for Christmas? Order by Sunday at noon and your package will ship Monday, 12/22/08 USPS priority. Enter Promo code FRIEND for a 30% discount on all orders through the end of the year. Happy holidays!

We’ve also added beautiful letterpress cards (from Egg Press!) to our inventory that you can purchase to go along with your order. Email us your personal message and we’ll include it in the card.

Awe, my addiction has a new outlet…. of course, I’m talking about chocolate. Ian thinks I’m crazy- it’s too bitter for him (he hates coffee and IPA and Kombucha too). But, somehow my tastes just keep getting more extreme. I’ve been munching on 99% cacao bars from Michel Cluizel! They are stocked by our local gourmet chocolate boutique named Cacao. I guess you could say I’m like a kid in a candy store there. Cacao presents chocolate like fine wines, olive oils, or coffees. Maybe you could call them the Chocolate Stumptown. They specialize in thick, unbelievably rich “drinking chocolates” that almost resemble hot pudding. My favorite is made with coconut milk and exotic spices that feeds my need for cayenne laced coco-ness.

Ok- one more product idea: RICE YOGURT! Why did it take so long for someone to think of this? I actually found this for the first time down in Ashland, Oregon (home to the best Co-op in the world)! Another one of those: “its about time,” things. And then a few weeks later it came to New Seasons!

This stuff is pretty sweet, so it more of a dessert thing than a lunch thing for me…. but I love the blueberry kind! And I have really missed yogurt since I stopped eating the soy-stuff. One of my favorite foods was the Vanilla soy-yogurt from Wildwood! Ricera isn’t the same, but it is close and lets me pretend.

Now if someone will please come up with a gluten-free, vegan cheese without soy! (I know this would probably take a miracle)

I was so excited to find this stuff last week… all I kept thinking was: it’s about time! Zevia is a “natural” soda made very simply: water, stevia and flavoring ingredient. I haven’t bought any kind of soda in ages, but I just had to try this stuff because it had stevia in it. Hopefully this is a good sign that more foods will start using the delicious calorie-free herbal sweetener instead of all the chemical sh*t that’s been out there since the days of women drinking Diet Rite. (For some reason those cans always conjure pictures of feather-haired women donning leg warmers, sweatbands, and full body leotards.)

More to the point, stevia is still considered a supplement. The sugar industry, and especially the established big boys of the artificial sweetener realm have been pressuring the FDA for years to keep this thing under-wraps.

What a shame. And if, like me, you tried using stevia 10 years ago and shied away because of the aftertaste… you will be pleasantly surprised by all the new “non-bitter” formulas out there. Basically a little of this “sweet leaf” goes a long way. Many of the new stevia powders (especially the packets) are cut with small amounts of other sweeteners (like sugar alcohols) and this mellows the flavor and makes it less potent. The straight stuff is SUPER easy to overdo!

It’s just a matter of time before this one hits huge… and we start seeing it appearing in more processed foods and drinks. Even with all the recent fan-fare stores like Whole Foods still can’t keep stevia next to the other sweeteners, because technically the FDA still classifies it as a “supplement.” So sometimes you have to go hunting for the herbal nectar. Most Whole Foods keep the packets by their tea selection. Trader Joes and Whole Foods both have really reasonably priced boxes of 100 packets under their own labels… both are around $5.00.

Sweetness.

For more information on Stevia and articles on artificial supplements check out the Zevia website links page. (Obviously they are going to be a little biased, but it has some good links).
http://www.zevia.com/products_stevia.html